The Vandals suffered a loss against Weber State but bounced back against Idaho State University last week.
Weekly Overview: Idaho (7-3) lost in a tough five set match against the Wildcats (6-4) on Thursday. Weber State is on a 4-game win streak now putting them in a four-way tie for third place in the Big Sky.
The Vandals then built up more points towards the Battle of the Domes sweeping the Idaho State Bengals (3-7) in three sets.
Weber challenged Idaho in a few ways on Thursday, shutting down their middles and knocking out that huge bit of scoring potential that head coach Debbie Buchanan has been utilizing so much this season.
Buchanan said that the middles were worked very hard and couldn’t quite get into their rhythm against Weber like they did against ISU.
The Bengals game was a different story however, and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Nikki Ball took control of the net with 3 blocks, two of which were solo blocks, and 9 kills.
The Vandals made up for the five-set loss with a clean sweep not dropping a single set to ISU.
Weber State University: Idaho was led by sophomore outside hitter Kennedy Warren offensively. Warren built up 19 kills over five sets.
Weber State took the first set 25-20 but Idaho came back for sets two and three taking both. That momentum died as the Wildcats won the fourth set 12-25 and then finalized their win 11-15 against the Vandals.
The Wildcats had higher hitting percentage, more kills and 11 aces to the Vandals one. Idaho played strongly at the net with 13 blocks to Weber’s 5 but couldn’t hold themselves in for the win.
Idaho State University: The Vandals again defended their home court making them 5-0 for conference games played in the Memorial Gym. Idaho took control early and did not let off the gas for the duration of the game winning three sets in a row.
The first and second sets looked to be close at the start, but Idaho pulled away in the middle finishing the first 25-15 and second 25-17.
The third set saw the Bengals with a bit more steam and both teams scored consistently up until the end. The Vandals pulled ahead at the end and Ball finished the final set with a kill finalizing the score at 25-23.
The Vandals played much consciously making on 13 errors to ISU’s 21, and held a high hitting percentage of .304.
What’s next: Idaho goes on the road to play Sacramento State on October 31 at 7 pm and Portland State on November 2 at 7 pm before them come home for four home games in a row.
Connor Swersey can be reached at [email protected]